5 of the World’s Greenest Buildings

The demand for greener, more sustainable buildings around the world is increasing rapidly. More cities are investing in eco-friendly buildings that are self-sustaining in areas of energy, water, waste and carbon emissions. To wrap up World Green Building Week 2017, we compiled a list of some of the greenest buildings in the world to serve as inspiration in our drive to net zero and net positive buildings.

One Angel Square, Manchester, UK

The 15 storey 3-edged building is home to Co-Operative Group, and boasts an outstanding BREEAM score of 95.16%. The building has a double skin façade and open atrium, which not only welcomes in streams of natural light, but also lightens the load of its heating and cooling systems. The building’s combined heat and power plant supplies it with its own source of air control system and electricity. Read more

Shanghai Tower, Shanghai, China

China is fast catching up to developing greener, more sustainable buildings, and Shanghai Tower is an outstanding example of how sustainability and infrastructure meet. Shanghai Tower is the second tallest building in the world, after the Burj Khalifa, standing at 632 meters tall. The skyscraper is comprised of 43 different sustainable engineering techniques, such as its unique twisted shape to channel wind to the 200 turbines at the top of the tower which generate 10% of the building’s energy supply, as well as other features such as solar panels and rainwater catchment plants. Shanghai tower also contains 24 sky gardens that aid the building’s natural air ventilation and heating and cooling systems along with the 2 layers of glass that the tower is wrapped in. Read more

Bullitt Centre, Seattle, USA

The Bullitt Centre in Seattle is said to be the greenest commercial building in the world. Its sustainable features include compostable toilets, a rainwater collection system, composters, and solar panels on the roof of the building that extend past its edges to produce 230 000 kilowatt-hours a year. It is said that the Bullitt Centre produces 60% more energy than needed annually, thus being able to supply energy to surrounding buildings. In order to make full use of daylight to minimise energy use, the building is made of 10-foot high windows, allowing streams of light to filter through into the open space. Read more

The Edge, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The Edge is more than just a green building – it’s exceptionally smart too. With its unique feature of a built-in app specifically designed for employees, it remembers things such as how you like your coffee, what lighting setup you prefer for your workspace, and even what your schedule is for the day. The Edge has been awarded the highest BREEAM sustainability score of 98.4%. The Edge uses all the latest technologies to make the workplace smarter and more efficient in both a human and a sustainable sense. Read more

Vodafone Site Solution Innovation Centre

The Vodafone SSIC is the first 6 star Green Star accredited building in South Africa, which is the equivalent of achieving a LEED platinum status. The building was created with the intention of blurring the lines between infrastructure and geographic landscape. Air ventilation is controlled through a gabion rock store where fresh air is cooled before being released through floor level vents and into the office space above. Grey water is also recycled on site through their wetland area, and then gets reused for irrigation purposes and flushing toilets. Read more